Don't you just love the Christian fundamentalist wackos here? According to this CBS News story:
A Hindu clergyman made history Thursday by offering the U.S. Senate's morning prayer, but only after police officers removed three shouting protesters from the visitors' gallery.
Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple, gave the brief prayer that opens each day's Senate session. As he stood at the chamber's podium in a bright orange and burgundy robe, two women and a man began shouting "this is an abomination" and other complaints from the gallery.
Police officers quickly arrested them and charged them with disrupting Congress, a misdemeanor. The male protester told an Associated Press reporter, "we are Christians and patriots" before police handcuffed them and led them away.
For several days, the Mississippi-based American Family Association has urged its members to object to the prayer because Zed would be "seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god."
Zed, the first Hindu to offer the Senate prayer, began: "We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds."
As the Senate prepared for another day of debate over the Iraq war, Zed closed with, "Peace, peace, peace be unto all."
Zed, who was born in India, was invited by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. Speaking in the chamber shortly after the prayer, Reid defended the choice and linked it to the war debate.
"If people have any misunderstanding about Indians and Hindus," Reid said, "all they have to do is think of Gandhi," a man "who gave his life for peace."
"I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing the faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our heavenly Father regarding peace," said Reid, a Mormon and sharp critic of President Bush's Iraq policies.
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the protest "shows the intolerance of many religious right activists. They say they want more religion in the public square, but it's clear they mean only their religion."
Police identified the protesters as Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christan Renee Sugar. Their ages and hometowns were not available.
This is just completely stupid and outrageous on the fundi wackos part. This country was founded on the belief of religious freedom, where the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights asserts that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Now I'm not too thrilled that the U.S. Senate opens their sessions with a prayer, but the Senate has been engaging in this tradition since 1789. I'd rather the Senate did not engage in such a tradition, but I doubt there is anything I could do to stop U.S. senators from creating their own little quirky traditions. But still, I'm pleasantly surprised that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invited a Hindu priest to open the Senate session with a morning prayer. This country is not simply a Christian nation, it is a nation of many different religions--Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Shinto, Judaism, Orthodox, and even non-religious. If the U.S. Senate is going to open their sessions with a morning prayer, then add a little variety with prayers from all the religions. Personally, I thought it was something special for Hindu clergyman Rajan Zed to open a U.S. Senate with a prayer--it is an honor and a memory that Zed will cherish.
But the Christian fundamentalist wackos don't believe it! America is a Christian nation, and this one Hindu prayer in the Senate is destroying our fundamental family values of the United States. It is like these wackos believe that one little Hindu prayer will destroy America as a Christian nation! Apparently these wackos do not read history. According to the Treaty of Tripoli, 1796, signed by the United States and the Barbary States, under Article 11 the treaty states:
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
I find it interesting that the leaders of the United States actually stated in this treaty that the government of the United States is specifically not a government founded on Christianity. According to Wikipedia on the Treaty of Tripoli:
Official records show that after President John Adams sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification in May of 1797, the entire treaty was read aloud on the Senate floor, including the famous words in Article 11, and copies were printed for every Senator. A committee considered the treaty and recommended ratification, and the treaty was ratified by a unanimous vote of all 23 Senators. The treaty was reprinted in full in three newspapers, two in Philadelphia and one in New York City. There is no record of any public outcry or complaint in subsequent editions of the papers.
Even President John Adams, who certainly would have read the treaty, accepted Article 11. The entire Senate accepted Article 11, and the statement that the United States government was not founded on the Christian religion. The U.S. government is stating within this treaty that the U.S. government is not founded on Christianity.
Now I know that the United States is predominantly a Christian nation. Fine. But the First Amendment of the Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...." This amendment protects non-Christian religions from a tyranny of a Christian majority. It is a tyranny that can be seen within these Religious Right wackos protesting against a simple prayer performed by a non-Christian clergyman who does not abide by their own warped, Christian fundamentalist views. They refuse to accept any type of tolerance or compromise. Any views that do not conform to their own warped ideology is almost considered heresy, and should be extinguished. It is just incredible.
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